Lt. Jack Taylor

Text of Debriefing on May 30, 1945

Lt. Jack Taylor, US
Navy commando, after his liberation

The text below is a copy of the debriefing
of Lt Jack H. Taylor, USNR, who led the DUPONT Mission as a member
of the OSS Secret Operations group. The original text, dated
30 May 1945, was accompanied by photos and drawings. The debriefing
text was written by Dr. Stransky Milos, a Czech Citizen, who
was a former prisoner in the Mauthausen camp. (Source: BLAST,
the magazine of the UDT-SEAL Association.)

The Dupont Mission

(October 13, 1944-May 5, 1945)

OSS Archives
DUPONT MISSION
J.H. Taylor
SECRET

As there were no known Partisan groups
or resistance movements in Austria with whom to ally ourselves
and as information from the Vienna area was of first priority,
this area was chosen for the first American mission. Three volunteer
Austrian Corporal POWs, who had homes or contacts in this area
were selected and Operation DUPONT was planned utilizing their
local knowledge. All were in their early twenties, single, in
excellent physical and mental condition and eager to participate.
There was no question of their integrity.

Perkins' home was in St. Margarethen
(50 kilometers south of Vienna) where he assured us we could
find haven in an emergency. It would serve as a base from which
to obtain information in the Wiener Neustadt area. [Perkins'
post-war pseudonym was Anton Graf. None of our documentation
portrayed his complete American pseudonym.]

Fred Grant had previously worked for
a butcher named Buchleitner, in Stixneusiedel (20 km south of
Vienna) and was engaged to his daughter. The two grandmothers
of this family, who lived alone in separate houses, were "guaranteed"
by Grant to furnish permanent headquarters and radio-location
for the mission. Again, Buchleitner could be depended upon to
help in an emergency.

[Grant's post-war pseudonym was Felix
Huppmann.]

Ed Underwood. Underwood's home was in
Vienna, his father a Captain in the Signal Corps of the Luftwaffe,
but it was considered too dangerous and unnecessary to send any
of our party into Vienna proper. He had many contacts in Vienna
for information and he spoke good English.

[Note: Underwood's post-war pseudonym
was Ernst Ebbing.]

The fourth member, Lt. J.H. Taylor, USNR,
had 15 months operational experience in the Balkans including
14 sorties into occupied territory and was a qualified radio
operator.

With large-scale maps, air-photos, flak
overlays and excellent local knowledge, a very thorough plan
was evolved allowing for all emergencies. The drop pinpoint was
a flat-cultured strip about two miles long by one-half mile wide
on the northeast fringe of the Neusiedler See (40 km south of
Vienna near the Hungarian border). The area was sparsely settled
and bordered on marshy land with tall reeds, which would serve
as excellent cover.

Of necessity, it had to be a "blind"
drop, i.e. without ground reception committee or pattern lights
and with absolutely no circling. Three containers, two containing
duplicate radio equipment, were to be dropped in salvo followed
immediately by the four bodies. The height requested was the
very minimum of 400 feet so that the chutes would be exposed
the minimum time to searchlight and flak batteries in the area.
The dark of the moon was also a necessity. The four bodies would
rendezvous by imitating the whistle of a marsh bird to guide
each other to No. 1 body, and then in line with the direction
of flight we would comb the area back and forth for the containers.
This plan, which was entirely abnormal, due to extremely hazardous
conditions, as compared with normal Partisan drops, was based
on my previous personal experience as Operations Officer, Bari,
and several months ground reception experience in the Balkans.
In retrospect, I cannot see where the plan could be improved
upon.

Due to bad weather, the operation was
scrubbed throughout the September dark-of-the-moon period and
while waiting, an attempt was made to see the Briefing Officer
or pilot at Brindisi for a mutual understanding of the plan and
to impress upon them the totally different nature of the plan.
This was not made possible and the attempt was resented vehemently
by the Operations Officer, Bari, and to a lesser extent by the
Conducting Officer, Brindisi.

The first clear weather over the pinpoint
in the new moon period was on Friday, the 13th of October. The
four members of DUPONT plus Capt. John McCulloch (Chief, German-Austrian
Desk), who wished to go as observer, departed from Bari for Brindisi
in a broken-down truck, no other transport being made available.

After drawing our chutes and jump suits,
we ate a hurried meal, the Austrians shifted into Wehrmacht uniform,
and we arrived at the plane, a Liberator named "R for Roger,"
manned by a Polish crew. The pilot spoke English and I explained
the plan to him hurriedly. He had, as I expected, only been given
the pinpoint and time of drop. Three extra containers containing
arms and ammunition for Partisans had to be removed from the
bomb racks at the last moment. This was all due to the fact that
no one had informed the crew who "bomb-up" with containers
that it was a blind drop with no reception, or Partisans.

Take-off was on time, at 1915. During
the flight, the plan was checked with the Dispatcher and to my
amazement he was expecting a "normal" drop, i.e., bodies
first, followed by circling and containers then dropped on ground-signal
from the bodies. This was finally straightened out over the interphone
with the pilot and we more or less relaxed again. The tail was
hit by light flak, causing no damage, as we crossed into occupied
territory. Underwood remembered that he left his five gold pieces
in his GI clothes in Brindisi. Capt. McCulloch was notified so
that he could pick them up on his return.

At 2215 we were "Running In"
and being number one, I could see the lake and patches of fog
beneath us while sitting on the edge of the hole. Soon patches
of land were seen, then "Action stations" at 22:30.
I saw one container chute open, "Go" was given off,
I saw Perkins' chute open and as I pulled down on my risers to
check a bad oscillation, I looked below and saw to my horror
that I would land on a roof of a house not more than twenty feet
below. As I was slipping in that direction, I released the risers
in order to drop straight down and barely missed the eaves, landing
instead a few feet away from the house in the front yard. In
the last few seconds, I caught a glimpse of a radio mast and
as I hit the ground, I remember that the air-photo showed a radio
station at the upper end of our two-mile strip. This was it,
I was sure, and expecting a burst of M.G. (machine gun) at any
moment, I wrapped up my chute and slunk away.

In a few minutes, I heard our birdcall
signal; we rendezvoused according to plan, cached our chutes
and jump suits and spread out for searching. To our amazement
and chagrin, our plane returned and flew directly overhead in
line with our previous run. In half an hour, we had found the
first container, thanks to the attached luminous discs, as the
white chute was invisible until practically stepping on it. We
cached the container and chute in the reeds and continued searching.
To our utter horror, our plane returned again, passing low directly
overhead. This was practically signing our death certificates,
as the German radar was so very accurate that circling over any
area by a lone plane at night was bound to create suspicion and
investigation. The plane circled to the left and was picked up
by a searchlight followed by flak but he escaped by evasive tactics
and continued on. The "All Clear" signal was heard
from Neusiedel as our plane finally returned to Italy.

I stepped in a hole in the marsh wrenching
my knee badly, which made walking on uneven ground very painful,
but we continued searching throughout the night and in desperation
even into the dawn. From a hillock, we ventured to look out over
the lake and marsh but could find no trace of the other two containers.

As dawn came, we found we had been dropped
over a mile south of our pinpoint, and that the "radio station"
which I almost hit turned out to be a boat-builder's shop. A
recee [reconnaissance] plane flew over low soon after but we
were well hidden in the reeds. On opening the one container,
we found no radio equipment whatever, and our mission seemed
doomed to failure from the start. We discussed, in whispers,
all the possibilities and decided that the other two containers
had not been dropped. In retrospect, Perkins, who was standing
behind us in the plane at the "Go" signal, saw one
chute open and in the bomb bay saw one of the crew kicking the
other two containers which appeared to be stuck. This explained
the circling and two extra runs. We decided to split the party,
sending Grant and Perkins on to Stixneusiedel to make arrangements
while Underwood and I remained for the possibility of another
drop, and to continue searching in the night; also my knee was
not fit for walking any distance.

We stood guard all day but saw nothing
but an old man at the boat-builder's shop. Cows and sheep grazed
nearby. We searched a new area unsuccessfully during the night
and upon awaking from my first sleep in 48 hours, I found a medium-sized
marsh snake lying alongside my sleeping bag.

Early in the morning of the third day
(16th) Grant returned from Stixneusiedel on a bicycle, which
he had cached some distance away, and approached our hideout
through the reeds. Perkins remaining behind with blistered feet.
We departed at 1700 through the reeds, picked up the bicycle
and set out for Stixneusiedel 35 km away. Underwood became very
ill after a few minutes, but continued on for another mile at
my request until he could not longer keep up. We left him with
his rations and water to return and wait at the hideout and continued
past Neusiedel, where thousands of foreign (slave) workers were
being herded for work on the Southeast Wall, a line of defense
utilizing, in this area, the natural barriers of Neusiedler See
and the Leitha Gob. Continuing past Jeis, Windem, Kaisersteinbruck
(a large Russian POW camp), and Wilfleinsdorf, we arrived at
Buchlietner's house about 0230 on the 17th.

We ate and went to bed but were awakened
in about an hour and asked to leave because German troops were
arriving in the village. As it was nearly dawn and we had no
place to go, we begged to stay and were allowed to hide in the
hayloft. Headquarters at either of the grandmothers was impossible
because one was dying and the other was so feeble minded and
childish that her security could not be depended upon. We requested
a cart and horse to pick up Underwood, but Buchleitner, because
of his black-market activities, was being shadowed when he left
the village with his wagon and it was not deemed safe under the
circumstances.

I inquired about Slovakia and found that
one of the daughters, Annie, had a schoolmate friend at the Ceramic
Institute in Vienna, who went home every weekend to the very
district where the Partisans were active. Annie, who commuted
every day to Vienna, reported that the girl was willing to take
a message to Lt. Holt Green's mission via the Partisans in her
home area. The message was written reporting our safe landing
without radio and requested that a radio be dropped to us at
the specific point. Unfortunately, the 15th Air Force was bombing
Vienna heavily and had switched to non-military targets at times.
When Annie went to deliver the message, she found that her friend
had been killed in her apartment when a whole civilian apartment
district was wiped out. There was no military target within a
mile of this area. We tried unsuccessfully to make other contacts.

Buchleitner and family were devout anti-Nazis,
as were 80 percent of the people in this vicinity, but in spite
of a token of a few gold pieces and several hundred marks, he
wished us to be on our way. This was the first demonstration
of fear growing into terror, which we were to see several times
later.

In the meantime, Grant and Perkins had
gone to St. Margarethen, returning via our hideout near Neusiedel
to pick up Underwood, but they were unable to find him.

Perkins, Grant, and I departed the evening
of 19 October for Hornstein (41 km) to contact a café
owner friend of Buchleitner, named Lasacovitch, a Croat, who
was known to be a strong anti-Nazi. Word was left for Underwood
to proceed to St. Margarethen if he arrived. Due to the distance
to be covered, we took a chance and used side roads instead of
fields and forests, consequently passing through "Kontrols,"
which we bluffed by saying "soldaten" and "heil
Hitler." We knew the Kontrols to be very old villagers,
and as the nights were absolutely black at this time, we were
able to slip by although it was ticklish.

At dawn, after walking all night, I remained
in the woods outside Hornstein while Perkins and Grant contacted
Lasacovitch, who informed them that he had just returned from
a prison sentence and had a Gestapo "permanent guest"
in his home. He could suggest no one else trustworthy enough
for a permanent hideout. Perkins and Grant proceeded to Stinkenbrunn
and another village contacting various references, but all were
unwilling to keep us permanently, although they were entirely
friendly and willing to be hospitable for one night. We rendezvoused
in the woods at dusk and proceeded to Hornstein where we spent
the night and next day at Herr Jais' home. His son, a discharged
Wehrmacht man from the Russian front, was a guard at the huge
Blumen ammunition works employing 40 thousand, the largest in
the Reich. (During my briefing before I left Italy, the 15th
Air Force assured me and "proved" with air-photos that
Blumen had been completely destroyed.) Other excellent targets
although smaller were described and noted. By this time, such
excellent intelligence material had been collected, including
bomb damage and targets in and around Vienna, also political
and economic data. Jais' sister, a middle-aged woman, wept and
almost become hysterical when I was introduced to her as an American
officer. She was unusually intelligent and vehemently denounced
the Nazis. She begged me to send for American or British paratroops,
stating that 90 percent of all Austrians would assist. Others
repeated this plea many times later. Another family was sharing
her home but she was eager to help us in any other way.

We departed the next evening (21st) for
St. Margarethen through the Leitha Geb (hills) to avoid two severe
Kontrols, one with Wehrmacht or Gestapo personnel, and arrived
at Perkins' home about 0200. The house was situated across the
street from an ex-theater, which housed several hundred foreign
(slave) workers, mostly Ukrainians, but including Poles, Czechs,
French, Italians, etc., approximately 25 percent were women.
They had practically nothing to eat and were the worst specimens
of humanity I had ever seen. Here I saw and photographed the
first Nazis with large swastika armbands, also Organization Todt
(Death) officers that were directing the work on the Southeast
Wall.

As we could not remain permanently at
the Perkins' home, Perkins and Grant contacted several people
in various localities, endeavoring to find a permanent hideout.
They returned again to Buchleitner's in Stixneusiedel during
the course of their trip and found Underwood, who was awaiting
his mother from Vienna. She arrived the same day and, as Perkins
and Grant returned to St. Margarethen, they understood that Underwood
intended to go to Vienna. He did not, however, but joined us
at Perkins' house where we all hid in the hayloft.

We discussed the situation thoroughly
and decided that the quality and quantity of information collected
warranted taking extreme risks in getting it though to Italy.
We agreed that two men would remain in the area while two would
attempt to cross the border to Yugoslavia in the Maribor area
and, with the aid of Partisans, would contact an Allied mission,
evacuate by air to Italy where material would be turned over,
followed immediately by our return to Austria with radio equipment.

We delayed the above plan until Underwood's
mother could try to get permission to go to Spittal near Villach
for a short vacation. While there, she would attempt to contact
Lt. Milas Pavlovitch's mission through the family of Steinwander,
one of the members of the mission. She would deliver a similar
message to the one intended for Lt. Green's mission in Slovakia,
describing our predicament and requesting a radio drop, also
reporting the highest priority targets. After our four days hiding
in the hayloft, the Perkins family was terror-stricken and the
father was drinking heavily. They said that their homes were
to be searched by the SS for food for the foreign workers. We
had no place to go but in desperation went to Schutsen (8 km)
on the 25th and were hidden in the hayloft of a friend of Perkins,
a Mathias Kaufmann (masonry contractor), but without meeting
our host. Just before dawn, Frau Kaufmann woke us and requested
that we leave before Kaufmann's employees arrived. It then became
clear that Perkins had told the Kaufmanns that we were four soldiers
that had missed our train and wished only to sleep a few hours
and be on our way. Frau Kaufmann was very perturbed but her husband
agreed that we could remain until night. That evening I talked
to Kaufmann and begged him to allow two of us to remain in his
hayloft for one week pending our departure to Yugoslavia if Underwood's
mother was unable to travel to Spittal. He agreed and hesitatingly
accepted a few gold pieces. Perkins and Grant contacted other
references for a hideout but were unsuccessful. Perkins returned
to hide in his home while Grant hid in the house of Perkins'
aunt (Wilfinger). They were to report to me in four days but
were to remain hidden otherwise.

Underwood's mother came from Vienna about
28 October and reported that it was impossible to obtain permission
to go to Spittal, not because of transportation difficulty, but
because all fit and capable women had to be available for drafting
into war work. She had also attempted unsuccessfully to contact
someone in the Vienna underground from which we might be able
to find a permanent hideout. In the meantime, we had heard that
the Yugoslav border in the Maribor area was heavily guarded by
SS and that our only chance was through the Villach-Klagenfurt
area, over 300-km away.

Underwood's mother wished to contact
a friend in Vienna, Eddie Gerstenberger, an oilman, who had a
summerhouse near Villach; from which direct Partisan contact
could be made over the border. He was thought to have underground
connections or at least to have information on the underground,
which we were anxious to have for intelligence material. I was
anxious to be away before the snow came as it was already freezing
every night but the thirst for more information drove me to request
Kaufmann for another week's delay. He assented, and in the meantime,
completed data on fortified hills, anti-tank ditches, barbed
wire, and mine fields, pillboxes, artillery sites, etc. At this
time (1 Nov.) there were 50,000 foreign workers and several hundred
Hitler Youth preparing this defense line under the direction
of Organization Todt and E.A.D. It was expected to be finished
by the middle of January.

Additional important targets were: a
locomotive factory in Wiener Neustadt, turning out one a day,
a powder factory in Sinsendorf, employing 2000; a Nehrmacht lager
in Vienna, containing all materials of war; an artillery school;
flak school; numerous airfields and woods, where the German fighters
were hidden when the American bombers came over; government food
storage houses in Vienna, etc. Economic information included:
wages for different types of work and additional food rations,
complete ration data, black market, farmers food stocks, estimated
coal and petroleum storage, true value of the mark in buying
other than rationed merchandise, barter, etc.

Political information showed that approximately
2% to 5% of the farmers and villagers were devout Nazis, 10%
to 15% were on the fence, and 80% anti-Nazi, with 50% rabid anti-Nazi.
In Vienna, estimates were difficult because of the extreme Gestapo
control, but it is safe to say that not more than 20% were strong
Nazis and certainly 50% were rabid anti-Nazi. Later American
bombing of non-military targets, particularly pure residential
districts and the beautiful art gallery and opera house reduced
the Anglo-Americanophiles to nil. It was very bad psychology
and positively stiffened morale. The feeling among the Austrians,
particularly the Viennese, was that the Allies were making no
differentiation between the Austrians and the Germans, which
did more to squelch budding resistance movements than the Gestapo.
In the later months, coupled with the Russian atrocity stories,
it actually united Austrians and Germans as never before and
made possible a real Volksturm.

Later, in prison, I learned from other
agent prisoners that their own homes and families had been bombed,
including clandestine radio stations, in spite of requests for
immunization for that particular block in a purely residential
section.

The Viennese Communists made excellent
anti-Anglo-American propaganda by calling attention to the fact
that the Russians were fighting a "clean" war on the
battlefield against military personnel, while the Anglo-Americans
concentrated on civilians (old men, women and children), their
homes, and cultural and art institutions. "The Russians
are the only ones who do not bomb us."

Underwood's mother returned to Schutsen,
stating that Gerstenberger had agreed to help and, as he was
leaving for Spittal anyway, he would make arrangements and explain
everything on his return within a week.

About the first week in November, Perkins
introduced an Austrian soldier, Alois Unger. Unger was on leave
before going to an unknown front. He wished to desert and join
us but I explained that it was impossible unless we could find
Partisans with whom to ally ourselves. Unger stated he had two
friends who would like to do the same. About a week later, he
rushed through in the night with a note written by Grant, addressed
to Maj. Chapin, HQ 2677th Regiment, Caserta, stating our predicament
(no radio) and mentioning our intention of proceeding to Yugoslavia.
Grant signed my name. His intention was to desert at the first
opportunity to the Allies and deliver the message. I hesitated
to send this but as the man already knew the contents of the
note and could certainly report it verbally to the nearest Gestapo
or Wehrmacht officer if I did destroy it, I felt that we could
at least lose nothing more by it. As I had no papers and as he
was already AWOL 12 hours and was anxious to be on his way, I
signed my signature in ink over the pencil signature by Grant
and told him to hide it in his Wehrmacht shoulder insignia and
sew it back up.

The Wulka, a small stream passing immediately
behind Kaufmann's property, was being widened into an anti-tank
ditch by many hundreds of foreign workers and their Nazi overseers.
We observed and photographed them at close range through a crack
in the roof made by sliding a tile up. Early one morning I thought
I heard swearing in English and, on sliding the tile up, we saw
about 11 British POWs working on the railroad with no guard except
the railroad inspector. We took turns watching all day, awaiting
a chance for one of them to get near enough to speak to without
the inspector, but the opportunity did not present itself.

A few days later, however, they were
working on a stretch of the track immediately below our hayloft
and when the inspector left momentarily we caught their attention.
They were so surprised that it was difficult for them to conceal
their excitement. We told them we were U.S. Air Force men who
had bailed out and were on our way to Yugoslavia. They offered
a map and good advice. They said they were not treated badly,
extra food was issued for railroad work, their Red Cross packages
were coming through regularly, and from what we saw they didn't
strain themselves working. They were a work party from Eisenstadt
where 200 similarly employed British POWs were housed.

Organization Todt officers came every
day, and occasionally Wehrmacht officers, to drink Kaufmann's
white wine and sometimes had to be carried out after drinking
all day. In almost every village there was a group of French
POWs assigned to farmers (one to a farmer) for day work, returning
to their barracks under guard every night. One such French POW
worked for Kaufmann, and we narrowly escaped being seen several
times when he came to the loft for hay. All French POWs could
not be trusted.

During this period, two trains of 26
cars each with approximately 6000 Hungarian Jews passed through
on their way to lagers (camps) in Austria. They had had no food
or water for three days and, when Kaufmann's daughter, who was
a Red Cross nurse, took them a pail of drinking water, the guards
(SS or SA) objected and told her that the Jews didn't deserve
to be treated as human beings.

We listened to BBC and ABSIE on Kaufmann's
radio almost every night and heard how Nazi Germany was crumbling,
their communications were absolutely paralyzed, the Luftwaffe
destroyed, of the critical coal shortages, and how the people
were on the verge of starvation. Actually, there was tremendous
night traffic on the railroads and in the air, no coal shortage
whatsoever, ample gasoline supply for all military, government,
police and Party use. There was no gasoline for private civilian
use, but some cars were fitted with acetylene cylinders and others
with charcoal gas generators. Town and city folk were rationed
on most staples, but not severely except meat and butter, while
the farmers had plenty.

Gerstenberger sent word that all arrangements
had been made but hoped that we would delay until his immediate
return as he was anxious to meet us and explain more. About this
time, an opportunity came for two of us to go with a shipment
of machinery from a ball-bearing factory in Vienna, which was
being transported, to Feldkirch near the Swiss border. Underwood
would go as a civilian employee, and I would be encased in a
box as machinery. A special train containing nothing else but
personnel and machinery had been laid on for the trip, which
was to take 36 hours. However, at this stage, Perkins particularly,
and Grant to some extent, began to get jitters about remaining.
They felt that if the Russians overran them before we could return
to Austria, it would be impossible to explain their situation
to their captors, and [that] there was a strong possibility they
would be transported to Russia as POWs to work for years before
returning. It was, therefore, decided that all would return to
Italy, but in two separate parties and routes, i.e. Perkins and
Grant, with proper papers, which we made out to suit the occasion,
would go to the front in Italy via Udine and attempt to infiltrate
through to the American lines, while Underwood and I would go
as originally planned through Yugoslavia. This would afford two
chances for the information to get through.

About the middle of November, Underwood's
father, a captain in the Signal Corps of the Luftwaffe, returned
to Vienna from upper Silesia, where he was stationed at a replacement
depot awaiting reassignment. He came to Kaufmanns' to visit his
son and immediately did all he could to help. He gave additional
top priority targets in Obersilesia and begged for Allied bombers
to strike at that district, which was the heart of the Reich's
heavy industry and also had the largest percentage of fanatical
Nazi civilians. He could not understand why such huge war industrial
districts as Gleiwitz, Oppeln and Breslau were left untouched.
I could only guess that it was out of range for Anglo-American
fighter cover. He was a very intelligent and fine man as was
his son and, I believe, a fanatical Nazi-hater. He was an attorney
in civilian life and a member of the Christian Social Party.
He wished to know why the Allies had not helped the Polish Partisans
in Warsaw when they made their desperate but unsuccessful attempt
to recapture their capitol in August. He was pleased to hear
that the western Allies had sent 10 to 15 supply planes a night.
I told him that any serious Austrian Partisan movement could
expect the same assistance.

Gerstenberger phoned from Villach to
Underwood's mother in Vienna telling her that he was returning
immediately and begged us to wait a few more days. As the weather
now was quite cold and snow had begun to fall in the mountains,
we decided to take one extreme but short risk and go by freight
train to Klagenfurt, which was on the main line to Italy. This,
rather than walking over land which would require three weeks
and entail numerous contacts with strange and untried people
for food and shelter. Accordingly, I sent Grant to a former friend,
Herr Baudisch, a train-dispatcher in Wiener Neustadt, to make
arrangements to hide us for a few hours until the proper train
came along.

Grant returned the next night, reporting
that Mrs. Baudisch and daughter, Erika, agreed, in the absence
of her husband, to hide us temporarily. He gave us the address
and a hazy description of the apartment house but intended to
accompany us also. All due respect to Grant, he was terribly
optimistic and inclined to over-estimate people's willingness
to cooperate and, on occasion, told a few more or less harmless
untruths to make our position look better. Consequently, when
Underwood's father visited us a few days later and asked what
he could do, I suggested he return to Vienna by way of Wiener
Neustadt to check the arrangements and if possible see Baudisch
himself about the freight-train details. He wrote a note from
Vienna, saying all arrangements were made but that Grant had
positively not been to the Baudisch home. Grant's description
of the dwelling was not accurate, and Mrs. Baudisch and Erika
said they had not seen Grant since we passed through on the way
to the Italian front almost a year before. I had not doubted
that Grant had been to the home, but when confronted with this
information the next evening, he did not deny it nor had anything
to say in defense. As he had done a marvelous job otherwise,
having done twice the work of anyone else, I did not press him.
He had planned to leave in two more nights regardless of any
further requests to delay from Gerstenberger.

We still had no permanent hideout to
return to if we were fortunate enough to get through to Italy
and come back with a radio, so I sent Grant and Perkins into
the Hornstein area for one last search on the following day.
They were to return on the following evening and we three (Grant,
Underwood and me) were to walk all night the next night, arriving
at Baudisch's home in Wiener Neustadt just before dawn, intending
to hide out during the day and catch the first freight out that
evening. Grant and Perkins were to board the first passenger
train for Udine and, with their Marsahbefehl for the Italian
front, they were expecting no trouble.

On the day that Grant and Perkins went
to Hornstein (30th Nov) I recovered my money-belt, camera, cipher
pads, signal plan and crystals, which I had cached near the eaves
and covered with hay some distance from our "burrows"
and packed them in a small kit bag. In retrospect, it is easy
to blame myself for keeping the cipher pads, signal plan and
crystals when no radio was dropped, but we were forever hopeful
of receiving a drop or having one brought in by courier. By keeping
these most secret appendages, the new radio, if captured in transit
or on the drop, would be useless to the enemy.

The temperature was well below freezing
every night and, as we had only one thin blanket, we slept in
all the clothes we could find and burrowed deep in the hay. I
had borrowed an old coat and trousers and wore them over my OD
trousers and shirt with my field jacket over the coat; however,
my collar insignia and black tie was plainly visible.

We climbed down from the loft about 1900
as usual for supper in a tiny room next to the manger. I had
just finished shaving and unfortunately had shirt, tie and coat
on, but not my field jacket. The watchdog barked; we snapped
the light off as usual (Kaufmann had many visitors.) and remained
quiet. We heard the front gate open, followed by the door to
the house. In a few minutes we heard someone come to our door,
but as it was usual for one of the family to come and tell us
when the "coast was clear," we thought nothing of it.
Suddenly, the door was thrown open and eight plain-clothes men
rushed in. We grappled for a few seconds, but I was forced back
in the corner, beat over the head with a blackjack and while
groggy had my arms pinioned behind my back. My left arm was then
twisted backwards until the elbow joint was torn loose; such
as you would the joint of a chicken leg. Four men were on each
of us, and I realized the futility of further struggle. Blackjack
taps on my head continued while my wrists were chained together
behind my back, painfully tight, and locked with a padlock. The
same had been done to Underwood who was held down under the table.
He was bleeding profusely from several cuts on his head. Outside
were two more men with Tommy-guns.

Capture, Gestapo, and Vienna Prison

As soon as we ceased to struggle and
our captors had a good look at us, one of them said to me, "Ah,
ein offizier," as he saw my collar insignia. As I mentioned,
after shaving I did not have time to put on my field jacket before
being captured and was unfortunately caught in the old coat and
trousers although my OD's were underneath. It was with great
difficulty that I was permitted to bring along my jacket.

We were lead [Sic] to the Burgermeister's
office in Schutzen and, with our arms still chained behind us,
we were slapped and kicked while being questioned. Although in
opposite corners of a large room with our backs turned to each
other, we could hear what was happening to the other. Kriminalrat
Sanitzer, who directed the raid, did the questioning and intimidation.
He pointed to my collar insignia and inquired what it was. "Hauptmann,"
(Captain) I answered, and received a heavy slap in the face coincident
with the word: "falsch" (false). This was repeated
several times including kicking but each time I was questioned,
I repeated the same. As I learned later, they were trying to
make me admit that I was a civilian in uniform as they said the
British used frequently. When Underwood was asked his name, he
replied "Underwood," but after the same treatment for
some time he gave his true name, and the Kriminalrat immediately
stopped, saying "that's better" or words to that effect,
apparently knowing both our names beforehand.

While being intimidated and cursorily
questioned, I noticed Herr Josef Preiler standing in an adjacent
room. He was Kaufmann's best friend and we had had many interesting
discussions. He was a very intelligent man working on administrative
duties for that area of Burgenland and, like Kaufmann, had lost
one son in the war and had one remaining still in the service.
Both were listed by NSDAP as "politically unreliable."
Preiler was ashen and struck dumb by what he saw and I was afraid
he would give himself away. I heard later that he had committed
suicide.

We were driven in separate sedans to
Eisenstadt jail a few miles away and, while still chained, I
was questioned by a woman interpreter. I gave name, rank, and
serial number, but they paid no attention whatever and refused
to write down my serial number off my dog tags. They wanted to
know where the radio was, and when told that we had no radio,
the "intimidation" started again. Finally, they apparently
believed our story but asked for the cipher pads, and described
them in detail down to the waterproof cover that I had them encased
in. I stated that they had been destroyed, but they said I had
them two nights before and that I might as well tell the truth
as they had picked up one of my boys in Wiener-Neustadt that
day. What he was doing in Wiener-Neustadt when he was supposed
to be in Hornstein four kilometers away in another direction,
I could only imagine. When asked how many were in the party I
answered, "three" hoping to cover the last man.

Soon, the Kaufmann family was brought
in weeping except for Frau Kaufmann; also our kit, which they
had picked up from our hayloft quarters. Our arms were shifted
from back to front and re-chained while we waited for the questioning
of the Kaufmann family. After an hour or so, we were taken still
chained to Wiener-Neustadt Gestapo Headquarters in two sedans
with a Gestapo man sitting on my lap.

At Gestapo Headquarters in Wiener-Neustadt,
we were stripped and given a very minute examination. All of
the gold coins that I had sewn in my trouser seams were found
and of course my money belt. Our clothes were taken away and
civilian clothes substituted, which I refused to put on, because
I expected them to photograph me as evidence to show that I had
been captured in them. My left arm was so swollen and painful
at this time that I had very great difficulty in getting my coat
off. They asked me if I wished a doctor and said one would be
provided when I was taken to Vienna in a few hours, but none
was.

They asked many questions through Underwood
about America, and it was clear that they had swallowed Goebel's
propaganda whole. They were particularly bitter about American
bombings and asked "why" as long as they (Germans)
had not bombed us. I explained that it was only because we were
out of range and reminded them of their destruction in England.
They also asked why were at war with each other at all, and I
reminded them again that they had declared war on us, but tactfully
added that of course it was only because they were abiding by
their treaty with Japan. When asked how long I thought the war
would last, I guessed six months and they agreed, but when asked
which side would win they laughed and ridiculed my answer. "Did
I not know that the Americans were retreating from Aachen due
to V-2? The Wehrmacht would soon show who was in control in the
west."

In underwear only, because I would not
put on the civilian clothes, and with clumsy wooden shoes I was
taken to Mortzinplatz IV Gestapo Headquarters in Vienna and placed
in cell No. 5 on the mezzanine at 0500 on the first of December,
even my shoe strings being removed so that I could not hang myself.
I was not allowed to lie down, not [Sic] to sleep, nor was any
food or water allowed. Very strict guard control was exercised.

Later in the day, I was brought to the
3rd floor to Kriminalrat Sanitizer's office for interrogation
but I refused to answer any questions until they returned my
uniform. They threatened to "give me the works," but
aside from twisting my already painful left arm and slapping
me around, no real torture was instigated. Sanitizer's assistants,
none of whose names I ever heard, although I will positively
remember their faces, did the intimidation. The only other man
whose name I heard was the "assistant Kriminalrat"
Anderle, who took no active part. After about three hours, they
returned me to the cell and I had a pan of watery beet-soup,
the first "food" in 24 hours. At this time, I never
expected to live another day and consequently slept very little.

The next morning I was again brought
to Sanitizer's office and after a few minute's verbal sparring,
they brought me my uniform, dog tags and shoes, which were heel-less
from searching for a secret cipher or poison. I put the uniform
on immediately and their whole attitude changed. They inquired
about my arm and said they would have a doctor see to it but
they never did. They offered cigarettes and brandy, both of which
I declined, and tried to be friendly. I asked to be reported
to the International Red Cross but they said it would have to
"wait a little."

The interrogation lasted most of the
day with a few hours lost due to an American air raid during
which time we were chained in our cells. They showed a remarkable
knowledge of OSS including names and had a diagrammatic relationship
of OSS Theater headquarters to Washington. They were particularly
interested in northern Italy and told me several things about
the organization, which I didn't know, such as the establishment
of a detachment at Cannes. Communications questions were mainly
on procedure as they were very familiar with one-time pads and
I had destroyed my 99 D.T. They brought out a 99 D.T. and asked
me how it worked but I denied all knowledge of it and questioned
their claim that it was American. I noticed, however that it
had "HOUSEBOAT" (the name of the mission) printed at
the top, and I remembered that we had such a mission but couldn't
place it geographically. They then proceeded to correctly explain
the principal of the 99 D.T. In fact, they seemed eager to show
me how much they knew. During this interrogation, I suffered
no intimidation or torture although threatened several times.
I requested better food and told them I expected to be treated
the same as a captured German officer. They promised better food.

Mortzinplatz IV Gestapo Headquarters
was located in the old Hotel Metropole in the center of Vienna
near the canal. On the mezzanine floor were twelve cells, six
on each side of the building with their windows cemented up to
within a foot of the top and with bars well embedded. These "windows"
opened on an inner court but one could not tell day from night
because they were painted over and a light burned in the cell
24 hours a day. The cells were soundproof rooms about 12 feet
long by 7 feet wide with typical cell and door about 4 feet in
from the outer door, thus limiting the actual "living space"
to 8 by 7 feet. The outer door had a peephole so that occupants
could be observed unknowingly. Neckties, shoestrings, belts,
razors (even safety), cigarettes, etc. were forbidden as were
all reading matter and writing materials. One could write a note
(pencil and slip furnished on request) between 0700 and 0730
to your "Referent," who would then determine whether
to bother your Kriminalrat about it.

Prisoners arose at 0500 and after washing
and making one's "bed," waited until 0800 for breakfast,
which consisted of hot water (very diluted unsweetened ersatz
coffee) and a thin slice of black bread. One must then sit on
a stool but not sleep and must jump to attention whenever the
"Kontrol" made the rounds, usually about four times
daily. Lunch consisted of very weak erpsin (beet) soup (no meat-broth,
bone or other vegetable), about four tablespoons of vegetable
stew such as erpsin, carrots or potatoes, and one thin slice
of bread. For supper, one had the same stew and similar slice
of bread. For Saturday supper, a small cube of cheese was substituted
for the stew and for Sunday a small slice of wurst the size of
a silver dollar was substituted. One was permitted to go to the
toilet only at three specified times daily when there were two
guards on duty and no prisoner ever saw any of the others. One
guard paced the hall on which the cells faced and "observed"
at least twice a minute. The hall itself was also closed off
with bars and door. None of the guards spoke a word of English
but most were sympathetic especially when no S.S. or Gestapo
was around. They were old Vienna police and had to carry out
their orders or be sentenced to a concentration camp. On the
orders of the Gestapo, certain prisoners were chained backwards
to the bars in the cell with their toes barely touching the floor,
others were permitted no "food" for several days while
others had their wrists chained together at night, etc. During
air raids, all cell prisoners had their wrists chained and remained
in their cells while the Gestapo personnel went in the basement
air raid shelter.

On the 2nd or 3rd of December while in
the Kriminalrat's office, I saw Underwood and Perkins in an adjoining
room and later through the open doors of several rooms I had
a glimpse of Grant. This was the last time I saw any of them
although I kept tract [Sic] as best I could through one of the
more friendly guards. I also saw Underwood's mother and father
but we didn't "recognize" each other.

During the interrogation, I was asked
how honest Grant and Perkins were, and replied that I had never
known them to lie. The Gestapo said that Grant and Perkins had
pleaded that they joined the OSS only as a means of getting back
to Austria and the Wehrmacht and asked if I believed that was
true. In an effort to cover Grant and Perkins, I told them that
it was entirely possible that they had had this idea at first
but had become fond of me after our landing and hated to turn
me in. The Gestapo replied that they did not believe it and that
Underwood was the only honorable one when he stated frankly that
he did not approve of the National Socialist Party. They asked
me if I knew that Perkins was a former SS man.

After about three days in the cell, I
was taken to the top floor (5th stock) to a room with bars over
the windows, which was occupied by a Hungarian General Anton
Wattay (Tabornok Wattay Anton). He was Regent Horthy's War Minister
and had been snatched by the Gestapo with Horthy in Budapest.
He was preparing to surrender Hungary to the Russians. We were
mutually suspicious of each other but we gradually became staunch
friends and I began to learn some German although he spoke no
English. During air raids, like the other prisoners on the top
floor, we were taken to the air raid shelter in the basement
to avoid being chained up, but I had to give my word of honor
that I wouldn't try to escape during an alarm. We were under
heavy guard always anyway. Here I met several occupants of other
rooms on the top floor including a Bavarian Count, Graf Halter
Von Birach who had "donated" his castle to Ribbentrop;
an Austrian deserter-volunteer from ISLD named Paul Pomerl, and
a German deserter-volunteer from the French. The ten prisoners
from other rooms on this floor were kept separated from us in
the air-raid shelter, but in time I met and talked with them
clandestinely. During December we experienced an average of three
raids a week, not all on Vienna proper. The food was definitely
better both in quality and quantity to that in the cells but
it was still poor and meager. We received a thin slice of some
kind of meat once a week and the ersatz coffee usually had a
little sugar in it. All except Wattay and I (the only foreigners)
had extra weekly rations of wurst, margarine and bread. Most
of these prisoners also had relatives or friends in Vienna, who
were allowed to bring them extra food once a week. We were fortunate
to get their old stale black bread that we wrapped in a damp
cloth to soften it enough to cut and then toasted it on our heater.

I slept very little the first two weeks,
expecting to be executed every day, and my unattended arm was
still very painful. In spite of the fact that my arm was green
and blue and terribly swollen, neither doctor nor X-ray ever
came although promised innumerable times. It was five weeks before
I could use it to button my pants or tie my tie. I finally became
resigned to my death and with the aid of Wattay, who was very
religious, I prayed twice a day for my comrades and myself.

Count Von Sirach was released the day
before Christmas and left a small wreath with candles to us.
On Christmas Eve we lit it and tried to be happy but Wattay was
so worried and nervous about his family in Budapest during the
siege that he couldn't control himself. In trying to comfort
him, I broke down myself, which was the only time during all
my captivity.

During the raids, I was chafed about
being bombed by my own people and when bombs would strike nearby
the Gestapo became very serious and said, "And those are
your own bombs," as if I'd made them with my own hands.
I was resigned to my fate but not so the Gestapo to theirs. We
followed the course of the bombers by radio as broadcast from
a special air-raid station, the regular Vienna station normally
signing off when the squadron approached within 100 km. There
was also the "flak-sender" (anti-aircraft radio station),
which directed the ack-ack.

A map covering the area within a radius
of 200 km of Vienna was divided into concentric circles with
radii of multiples of 35 KM up to 200 KM. These circles were
then cut into sections by 8 equally spaced radii and each section
numbered.

These Luftshutzkarte were printed in
the newspaper and also distributed as cards. The listener could,
by listening to the radio and referring to the map number tell
exactly where the flight was at 30-second intervals.

A sample bombing as it appeared to one
on the receiving end went about as follows: at 1030 the radio
was interrupted with a Coo Coo (Cuck-Cuck alarm) followed by
a announcement that enemy bombers were over Carinthia and Stier
provinces; (the German radar functioned up to 400 km) in 15 minutes
when the flight approached to within 200 km, sirens all over
the city sounded the "Before Alarm" (Voralarm) characterized
by the top pitch being broken twice during a 15-second period,
thus: [A wavy line was drawn to visually depict the tone.]

This was the signal to prepare to leave
for the air raid shelter (Luftschutzraum) giving approximately
40 minutes until the bombers were overhead. In approximately
20 minutes the "Air Alarm" (Fliegeralarm) announced
the flights at the 100 km mark characterized by an undulating
siren: thus: [A long line was drawn to visually depict the siren.]

This was the signal to leave immediately
for the air raid shelter as bombers could be expected overhead
in 20 minutes. Radio WIEN went off the air with the warning "Acute
air danger for Vienna," and the air raid station took over
as mentioned. The groups usually rendezvoused outside the ack-ack
zone, the first groups circling until joined by later flights,
sometimes as much as an hour, and then lined up for the bomb-run.
On the run in over the periphery of Vienna, intense heavy ack-ack
was thrown up and when overhead, the motors could be plainly
heard. Bomb detonations in rapid succession were heard as dull
thuds or terrific jarring blasts depending on the vicinity. (During
the heavy 15 January 1945 raid, one bomb hit the foundation of
our building and blew in the next room killing two and injuring
many. We were all thrown to the floor and covered with plaster).
Similar intense heavy flak was heard as the group passed over
the periphery on the way out. This was repeated as group after
group passed over, sometimes as many as 15 participating. Listeners
were kept informed almost constantly as to the exact position
of the groups. When the last group passed over the 100 km mark
going home, the "Before end of the warning" (Vorentwarnung)
siren was sounded which was characterized by the same pattern
as the "Before alarm", thus: [A wavy line was drawn
to visually depict the alarm.]

Approximately 20 minutes later as they
passed over the 200-km periphery, the "End of the warning"
(Entwarnung) siren was sounded which was characterized by a continuous
top pitch for 30 seconds, thus: [A line was drawn to show the
siren.]

The Viennese were very disturbed and
the Gestapo was so bitter about the Vienna bombings particularly
the pure civilian districts, opera house, etc., that I felt we
might capitalize on their fear and anxiety. I reasoned that the
policy of residential district and non-military target bombing
was not popular, particularly in Austria, with the US Air Force
and if even a slight reason could be shown why it was detrimental,
I felt they might cease. I do not refer to the civilian destruction
due to near misses around a target area, but to the deliberate
concentrated bombing in pure residential districts and cultural
institutions such as the opera house, museum, etc.) Consequently,
I made the Gestapo a proposition to spare the lives of my three
Austrian comrades in trade for a guarantee from the 15th Air
Force that they would limit themselves to military targets in
the Vienna area. Near misses around such targets were agreed
to be unavoidable. Inasmuch as they had proven to me during the
interrogation that they were familiar with our one-time pads
and procedure I saw no security violation in proposing to get
in contact by radio with Bari explaining that we were captured
and offering the proposition. The Gestapo turned it down as preposterous
and said I only wanted to inform my people that we were captured
so they could warn other groups.

About 17th of January, General Wattay
was suddenly taken away from Vienna and another prisoner, Paul
Pomerl (an Austrian ISLD agent captured in northern Slovenia)
was moved in with me bringing his radio. The short-wave band
did not function so we could only listen to local stations. All
Allied stations were "hashed" by German interference
on this standard band but after a few days, I enjoyed Pomerl's
confidence enough to work on the radio while he listened at the
door. The changeover switch was fixed "haywire" and
with a small piece of magnet wire for an antenna, we tuned in
on short waves.

The very first station had Vice-President
Wallace giving the oath of office to Truman, and a moment later
the President was heard being sworn in by a Chief Justice. It
was a real thrill. For the next few days we took turns listening
at the door while the other listened to news from BBC, ABSIE,
Moscow, and several American stations. The best of the old police
guards, Herr Meister Egger, came to the door several times while
on duty to hear the program "Americka sprecht mit Oesterreich"
(America speaks with Austria) from New York. He would have come
more often but he could not trust the other prisoners for reasons
explained later. He and one other Meister were outspoken (to
me) anti-Nazis and when no one was looking he would give me a
"regular" (non-Nazi) salute.

According to Egger, only three of the
twenty police were regular Vienna police, most having 20 to 30
years service, and not S.S. or Wehrmacht. With the exception
of the above-mentioned three, they were all kind and sympathetic
when alone with us, however, very strict Gestapo control was
exercised over them. Two of the Meisters had sons who were POWs
in America and showed me letters from them saying they were well
treated and had good food, etc. Pomerl spoke good English and
I first learned about the other "top-floor" prisoners
from him. Unfortunately, he was taken away after about 10 days
but I gradually collected bits of information about them over
a period of three months.

They were all captured Russian agent
radio operators except one who was British SOE. Most were Viennese
Communists, one Stuttgart; two were Russian (man and wife) and
the British agent from Graz. There were five women and four men
and the longest captured was 28 months. They had all parachuted
into various sections of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and
Austria, and had worked from one day to almost one year before
being captured. To save their lives, they operated their radios
in daily contact with Moscow; also ciphering and deciphering
all messages.

A radio room on the top floor was in
charge of a Gestapo operator who supervised and monitored each
transmission. They used their own Russian or British "field"
sets. Mr. Lander, a Wehrmaht Feldwebel in civilian clothes, handled
all double-agent correspondence, and attempted to lure couriers
from Russia into his traps. He was a young, intelligent, well-educated,
Viennese engineer who designed underground shelters, etc. before
becoming associated with the Gestapo. His wife was a Parisian
dentist and they had lived in Paris until just a few days before
the American occupation. After the 15 January raid, when the
basement was hit, all Gestapo and "top-floor" prisoners
except a few Meisters and me were taken to the regular air raid
shelter on the catacombs under the city during the raids.

For the next two months I was in absolute
solitary confinement, only seeing and speaking to other people
during the air raids. I had severe dysentery and much loss of
blood the last two weeks of January, and although medical attention
or medicine was promised daily, neither was ever forthcoming.

One day during February, a very small
man from Berlin with crooked teeth interrogated me, and accused
me of being an Englishman by the name of Major Taylor, whom they
believed to be the head of the Hungarian desk in some British
organization. They had captured a Canadian agent, in Hungary
presumably; who said that an American Captain Taylor had briefed
him and later, they had apparently captured part of a Hungarian-British
mission, but a Major Taylor had escaped. The fact that my name
was the same, and I had jumped near the Hungarian border, led
them to surmise that I was the same man. When asked how I could
prove I was an American, I could only think of checking my name
and serial number through the International Red Cross and my
American accent.

By the middle of February I had lost
so much weight and had long ago stopped exercising because it
made me too hungry. About this time I succumbed to pneumonia
with very high fever. At least twice a day for four days I asked
for a doctor and medicine and was assured that one would come
"sofort," but none ever came. Through a friendly guard
I was able to get a package of sulphanilimide from one of the
other prisoners, who had stolen it from my confiscated medical
kit, and I have no doubt that this medicine helped to save my
life.

One of the women prisoners Louisa Souchek,
was allowed to come into my room at intervals and change the
cold towels on my head. She was a wonderful nurse and made me
feel much better. We became good friends and when she decided
to trust me, I learned many interesting points about the Gestapo,
Russian agents, Viennese moral, etc.

About the first of March, during one
of the daily raids, a heavy bomb destroyed one side of our building
including the Kriminalrats' offices. We were immediately moved
out to a villa near Turkestein (sp) Park, as our undamaged rooms
were the only ones available. This villa was formerly owned by
Herr Messner, head of the Saperfit Rubber Co. (Austrian-American
Rubber Co.) and had been confiscated from him while he was a
Gestapo prisoner. I was to have been returned to the cells on
the mezzanine, but because I was still quite sick, they allowed
me to go with the "special" prisoners.

The radio station was set up in the villa
and everything proceeded as before. Here I was able to see the
Russian field sets and learn a little about their cipher. Louisa
informed me that she was sure that Moscow knew that five of the
"stations" including hers were operating under Gestapo
supervision. At the direction of the Gestapo, she had sent me
messages requesting a courier and Moscow had replied affirmatively
giving the time and place of arrival. The Gestapo had set an
elaborate trap but nothing happened and they were frantically
trying to get an explanation from Moscow. It was very amusing
and she kept me informed on the correspondence.

None of the other operators knew what
was going on, and I have often wondered why she trusted me with
such dangerous (for herself) information. She had been an active
Viennese communist for 10 years before the war and her husband
had last been heard of with the Russian Partisans. She believed
all operators would be executed at the last moment before the
Russians arrived and, when I tried to comfort her, she explained,
"I have no fear, I am a Communist." She felt that I
might have a chance because I was captured in uniform but the
Gestapo had previously told me that it made no difference because
I was a spy and the leader of a group of traitors. Our case was
being tried in Berlin and the verdict was expected soon. I memorized
her code name and sister's name and address so I could renew
the contact after the war if we were fortunate enough to live.
She would be an excellent source. Louisa stated that Kriminalrat
Sanitzer had asked her to work with him underground after the
new government was formed. "After all," he said, "Communism
is the practical application of the National Socialist ideological
theory." "We will see," she said.

We went under S.S. guard through the
park to a private air raid shelter during the daily air raid
but thousands of people used the railroad tunnel under the park.
When well enough, I sawed and split firewood and pruned trees
around the Messner villa under SS guard but they were entirely
different from the old police at Mortinzplatz. It was the first
time I'd seen the sun in five months and the "special"
prisoner food was far superior to anything previous, although
meager.

On 15 March after one week at the villa,
I was awakened in the night and told to get ready to leave. This
was the end, I thought, but no one would tell me anything. I
was returned to the cells in Mortinzplatz and [was] assigned
to cell No. 6 with two others. As usual, we were mutually suspicious
and they were especially so when during the daily raids I was
taken to the air raid shelter in the basement while they were
chained up as I had been before. I was asked no questions and
they gradually thawed. Erich Bitterman, 35 years, tall, dark
and handsome, Rumanian, former 1st Lt., in the King's Guard,
married to a Hungarian baroness, owner of a large estate outside
Bucharest which supplied big shot Nazis in Berlin with the finest
food. Erich, a Volksdeutsch SS Untersturmfuhrer was kept busy
shuttling back and forth from Berlin by special transport plane,
supplying food and luxuries.

He was later taken by the Gestapo during
an anti-Nazi putsch and in an SS officers' prison near Kustrin
where he was treated very well in comparison to Mortzinplatz.
As the Russians neared, he understood that they were all to be
executed and successfully escaped by lowering himself from a
third story window with blankets tied together. Speaking perfect
German, he had managed to get to his home in Vienna only to be
picked up with false papers a few days later. His address was
Wien IV, Argentinastrasse 29, Palais Toscana.

Otto Schmeisser, 30 years, medium height,
light kinky hair, husky, part Jewish, former Customs official
before the war and Oberfeldwechel in charge of searchlight crews
in the Vienna area. In October 1944 he arranged with a sergeant
friend of his to witness his "drowning" in the Danube
while he crawled out on the bank some distance below. Here he
dressed in railway inspector's uniform and with proper papers
disappeared into the underground unknown to his wife. He worked
for several months on propaganda leaflets, small sabotage operations,
etc. and was in the act of getting arms, ammunition, 3000 ration
books, etc. distributed to an underground Partisan movement who
in conjunction with volunteers from the Wehrmacht, Vienna police
and Volksturm intended to carry out an anti-Nazi putsch which
they had good reason to believe would be joined by the Wehrmacht.
The Gestapo took several high-ranking Wehrmacht officer accomplices
at the same time. As was the case in all Viennese resistance
movements, Gestapo agents made themselves integral parts of these
organizations and did excellent work for them sometimes for several
months, as in Schmeisser's case, before turning them in. His
movement was not a "party" affair but a patriotic Austrian
anti-Nazi interest. His home was in Bablitxbel Vien, No. 201.

I learned that a newly captured Wehrmacht
Lieutenant Russian agent and I had changed places, he going to
the Villa to work Moscow and I coming to cell 6. In a few days,
we were joined by a new prisoner, Engineer Wilhelm Modess, a
naval architect, and one of the finest men I've ever known. He
was married to a Jewess who escaped with her father to Buenos
Aries just before the Nazis took over and both left large interests
in Modess' name. In six years, the Nazis had systematically stripped
him of every piece of property and business by keeping him in
Gestapo custody at intervals, which were simultaneous with court
actions confiscating his property. He was not allowed to appear
in court or have representation because he was a Gestapo prisoner.
At the conclusion of the "legal" confiscation he was
released and would be free to go about his normal business until
another piece of his property was wanted. He was working against
the Nazis but he was so careful, that they could never pin anything
definite on him.

Toward the end of March, a woman doctor
(M.D.) was brought into Cell 3 and as was the custom, every personal
article including eyeglasses was withheld. After several days,
another woman prisoner was placed in her cell that had better
eyes and discovered that the doctor had lice. The doctor was
horrified and begged for her glasses so that she could pick them
from her garments, but her pleadings were unheeded. There was
no opportunity to bathe or wash clothes. About the same time,
another woman, Martha Russ, was brought in and had to have her
wrists chained behind her back to the bars so high that she could
barely touch the floor. In the night, through exhaustion, her
feet slipped out from under and she was left hanging. Her screams
were horrible. Later, I got possession of the order for the mistreatment
of Martha Russ signed by her Kriminalrat (not Sanitzer). Toilet
paper was non-existent and we were rationed to three small pieces
of newspaper or scrap paper. I always read the scrap paper first
and to my surprise found the above order torn in two. It had
been written on the back of a useless mimeographed sheet to save
paper and when the Meister handed it to me, he saw only the one
original mimeographed side. The order directed the Meister to
hang Martha Russ by her wrists every night, no food for three
days, and not to bother the Referent with any requests.

The Russians were 50 km away and moving
fast and we had hopes of being overrun before we could be evacuated
or executed. At 0300 on 31 March we were awakened and told to
prepare to leave immediately. Thirty-eight of us were moved under
heavy SS guard (10 guards with Tommy guns and rifles) from Vienna
to Enns (Near Linz) by train. I was terribly surprised to see
the West railroad station absolutely untouched by bombs and everything
functioning normally, also the yards were full of coal cars.
Farther out, in the yards there were evidence of heavy bombing
but all tracks were intact and functioning.

The train was filled with refugees and
we stopped twice enroute during air raids; once in a tunnel and
once in a cut where all the passengers and train crew except
us, fled into the woods. Schmeisser and I planned to jump out
the window at night while two of the taller men stood up in the
doorway of the compartment to conceal our movement. At the last
moment Schmeisser backed out saying his wife and child would
be murdered if he escaped. I had the window partially open and
blamed myself a thousand times later for not going ahead alone,
but due to American bombings, the entire civilian attitude towards
Americans had changed so that it was questionable whether anyone
would take one in alone. With an Austrian speaking that particular
dialect it was a 50-50 chance. On the train I met Dr. Hans Becker,
whom I had spoken to once in the cells but never seen before.
As we talked, Becker had served a sentence in Mauthausen around
1941 and warned us of the conditions, saying it was definitely
worse than Dachau, which he also attended. We arrived at Enns
at 0400 and marched 8 km to Mauthausen, crossing the Danube by
ferry just past dawn. We could see, on the hill, the lights of
the most terrible Lager in all Germany, which was to become our
last home until execution.

Concentration Camp Mauthausen

(Konzentrations Lager Mauthausen)

At dawn on Easter Sunday, 1 April 1945,
our 10 SS guards and we 36 prisoners crossed the Danube ferry
at Mauthausen, and climbed the hill past the rock-quarry. Several
prisoner work parties (Arbeit Kommandos) under heavy SS guard
passed by on their way to the quarries. They were the most terrible
looking half-dead creatures in filthy ragged stripes and heavy
wooden shoes and as they clanked and shuffled along the cobblestones,
they reminded of a group of Frankensteins. We kidded ourselves
saying we would look the same in a few days, but we were all
struck with cold dread terror.

Above us we could see the high stone
wall with electric fence on top and to our left below the regular
camp were a group of low windowless buildings, which were originally
barns for horses, later for Russian POWs and at this time serving
as a "hospital" (Krankenlager, Sanitateskager or Russian
lager}. We arrived at a group of buildings just outside the main
entrance and were turned over to the Mauthausen SS who didn't
waste any time intimidating us. SS Unterscharfuhrer Hans Prellberg
was particularly brutal as he slapped, punched, kicked and beat
most of us over the head with a cane belonging to a crippled
Slovak in our group. Two young Russians and a Hungarian were
unmercifully beaten because they did not understand German. All
commands were given in German and I had to keep extremely alert
to save myself similar beatings. We were told certain rules and
regulations, the penalty being instant death on all except one,
which was merely hanging the victim by his wrists chained behind
his back. This slight penalty was for failure to stand at attention
and remove one's cap whenever an SS man, regardless of rank,
passed or when speaking to an SS man. When the next group of
new prisoners, following us, were having the same rules and regulations
announced to them, the speaker said: "and if you attempt
to escape and are recaptured, you will be shot immediately, like
this," and simultaneously pulled his pistol and shot an
old prisoner standing near, who had just been recaptured after
an attempted escape.

We were marched through the main gate
and lined up outside the shower room where we were individually
questioned, slapped, slugged, and beaten with a stick by three
SS men in relays for approximately three hours; in addition,
some were spat upon. The worst to me was SS Unterscharfuhrer
Hans Bruckner who screamed "you American swine" every
time he struck me. He also beat unmercifully a Lt. Glauber, an
ISLD agent (Viennese-born, British citizen) mainly because he
was a Jew. I had not seen Glauber since the night he was captured
in February when I was called to Kriminalrat Sanitizer's office
and introduced to him. We were told to talk to each other, which
we did without saying "anything." Now, he had lost
much weight and remarked the same about me.

We were marched to the bath, stripped,
and all our belongings confiscated, except three wristwatches
and a wedding ring which we were able to slip to a Polish Kapo.
(Kapos were head prisoners of a work detail). All hair was shaved
from our bodies, lice inspected, etc., and after a hot shower
we were given only an old suit of ragged underwear. We never
saw our clothes again and were led out into the cold barefooted
where we stood at attention and shivered for over an hour before
being marched to our barracks, Block 13. This S.O.P. was not
changed even during the most severe part of the winter when men
stood barefooted in the snow. LT. Glauber and three others, who
were badly in need of medical treatment, went to the hospital.
Glauber told me that when the Czech doctor found out that he
was a British officer, he winked at him and said he would put
him in the hospital for a couple of months where he would not
have to work. Glauber was very happy and we said goodbye warmly.
One of the other three was a small Sudeten German who was a mass
of bruises from head to foot and also had several festering sores
from Gestapo cigarette butt burns.

We received our first food in 48 hours
and later were assigned our prison numbers, two of which were
stamped on cloth with the appropriate colored triangle indicating
political or criminal prisoner and citizenship and one stamped
in metal for a wrist bracelet. The cloth numbers were sewn on
the left breast of the coat and the outer side of the left trouser
half way to the knee. All three numbers had to check before the
food would be issued. In addition, if the prisoner was not wearing
stripes, he had a rectangular hole cut in the middle of the back
of his coat and also just below the number on his trouser leg;
these spaces were filled in with a rectangular piece of 'stripes"
so that if an escaped prisoner cut off his stripes, he still
had the tell-tale rectangular holes.

Nationalities were not segregated and
in Block 13 we had all nations in Europe and the Balkans represented
except Albania and Turkey. Approximately one-fourth were Russian
POWs. All non-German prisoners had a stripe (strasse) shaved
down the center of their head leaving short bristles on each
side.

After two days, we began by devious means
to get wooden shoes and old trousers or shirts; until then we
walked around in the cold and mud barefooted and clad only in
ragged underwear. Within a week I had, though friends, collected
a full compliment of assorted rags for clothes.

There were 25 prisoner barracks each
normally designed for 220 men, i.e., 70 triple-decker single
bunks plus 5 double-decker singles, but at this time holding
nearly 400 each. This was increased to almost 600, which made
it necessary for three to "sleep" in each single bunk.
Toilet and hygienic facilities were proportionately inadequate.

When the camp was first established,
many German criminal prisoners were inmates and from these murderers,
thieves, forgers, etc., the SS chose the barracks heads (Blockeldesters).
It was their duty to rule with a ruthless and heavy hand all
fellow prisoners in their barrack. Criminal pugs that used their
fists, blackjacks, sticks, rubber hoses and razor straps to maintain
"order" assisted them. During the assembly for roll
call twice a day, these degenerates demonstrated their professional
ability to the SS and Deutsch Kultur to their fellow prisoners.

Stealing was practiced on a scale, which
cannot be imagined, and one had to carry with him at all times
his total belongings. The net result from all stealing "organisiert"
was food, as one could not support life on the regular prison
"food." Stealing was therefore a matter of life and
death for most and practiced almost unanimously.

We slept in our clothes not for warmth
but to keep them from being stolen. Prisoners who could "organize"
a topcoat or raincoat and at night slept on it for a pillow would
invariably wake to find it missing and rarely were able to recover
it. I had two pair of "shoes" stolen from under my
mattress at different times while sleeping and recovered one
pair. Modess, my bunkmate slept in his boots and actually caught
a man trying to pull them off. On unusually cold nights, there
was heavy nocturnal traffic in blankets. The blankets, incidentally,
were collected each morning and redistributed at random each
night, thereby spreading lice and fleas from a few to all.

Modess and I bunked together and were
later joined by a Russian. Beneath us were two French lieutenants,
Maurice and Albert (Poupee) and Vojtechkrajcovic, governor of
National Bank Bratislava, head of the Economic Institute Bratislava
and a continentally renowned economist. This trio was captured
in Yugoslavia, enroute from Bratislava to the Allies in Italy,
bearing important documents from the Slovakian Government. Above
us were two Germans and one Russian. During the first week, I
heard of a number of Americans in the camp but on running down
the rumors found that most were Europeans who had spent some
time in America and returned. There were however three other
Americans:

Miss Isabella (or Carlotta) Dien or (Dean)
captured in France, interned in Ravensbrück, and evacuated
to Mauthausen in February 1945 on the approach of the Russians.
Through friendly Czechs, she was assigned to the laundry where
she was able to get some extra "organisiert" food but
her health broke and she was placed in the Wiener Graben women's
"hospital" outside the camp. It was impossible to slip
her any extra food and she grew steadily worse.

Sgt. Louis Biagioni, ASN 12185480, OSS
SI agent captured in northern Italy in summer 1944 and held for
some months by Gestapo in Italy, then transferred to Mauthausen.
On December 26th, he was taken to Linz, tried, condemned to death
and returned to Mauthausen. He split wood in the garage while
awaiting his execution.

Lionel Romney, Negro fireman, U.S. Merchant
Marine, "S.S. Makis" sunk off Pantelleria 17 June 1940,
captured by Italians and interned eventually in Mauthausen. He
did lumberjack work in the forest for which he received extra
food.

There were two British officers:

Captain John Starr, SOE, captured in
France 1943 and through a series of remarkable circumstances
eventually arrived at Mauthausen.

1st Lt. Toni Speare, RAF fighter pilot,
downed in France, spring 1944, and captured in civilian clothes
while trying to escape through the French underground. He was
suffering from boils and temporary loss of sight and voice. Neither
was forced to work. Both were fine types.

Food consisted of flavored hot water
(very dilute unsweetened ersatz coffee) at five for breakfast.
Lunch was one liter of erpsin (beet) soup, much thicker but less
palatable than in Vienna. Supper was 1/10 to 1/17 kilo of black
bread. The bread was composed of wheat flour, ground potato peelings,
sawdust and straw. On Sunday, in addition we received a slice
of margarine or a tablespoon of cottage cheese.

Until 1945, a camp brothel was run for
the convenience of the prisoners, who were rationed to one experience
weekly. All the women were diseased. The SS had their own private
brothel and the officers their "kept" girl friends.

As mentioned before, during my four moths
in Vienna, I had lost much weight and vitality (estimated weight
130 lbs.) and was therefore in much worse condition for manual
labor than the other 37, who were comparatively new prisoners.
In Mauthausen we were all forced to work as soon as we got something
approaching shoes and many of our group were assigned to the
Kommando repairing the railroad and highway around Enns. This
was heavy and continuous pick and shovel work for 12 hours with
1/2 hour off for lunch (1-liter erpsin soup) and included a 16-km
round-trip march to end from work. Most of our groups were high-class
professional men and the strain of misery of this type of work
at first, can be imagined. All "outside" Kommandos
such as this one had a minimum of one guard for every four prisoners,
three-quarters of the guards carrying machine pistols (Tommy
guns) and one-quarter rifles.

I was not eligible for work outside the
outer chain of guards because, as I learned later, of my execution
sentence. I was assigned to work in the new crematorium where
I carried sand, cement and water and mixed cement for the Spanish
tile layers. The Spanish Kapo Jacinto was kind to me and we were
protected from the rain and cold, consequently I tried to get
my friends on with me. I succeeded in getting Modess (my bunk-mate)
and Garaf (Count) Orsic with us for a few days but a Yugoslav
partisan working with us took particular delight in hounding
Orsic who was a Croat. This same animosity was demonstrated frequently
between Yugoslav Partisans and Royal Yugoslav Army members and,
towards the end, when a few former Spanish "Blue Division"
members were interned, the Spanish Loyalists (oldest prisoners
in the camp) vehemently denounced them and did their best to
taunt them into committing suicide on the electric fence.

We dawdled at our work to delay completion
of the crematorium because we knew that the number of executions
would double when cremation facilities were available (No gassed
or shot bodies could be buried because of evidence) but one Saturday
morning, Prellberg and S.S. Hauptscharfuhrer Martin Roth (head
of the crematorium) belabored Kapo Jacinto for his failure to
finish the work quickly and informed him that it must be finished
and ready for operation on the following day or we (workers)
would be the first occupants of the new ovens. Needless to say,
we finished the job in the allotted time. The next day, Sunday
April 10th, 367 new Czech prisoners, including 40 women, arrived
from Czechoslovakia and were marched through the gate straight
to the gas chamber and christened the new ovens. Black oily smoke
and flames shot out the top of the stacks as healthy flesh and
fat was burned as compared to the normal pale yellow smoke from
old emaciated prisoners. This yellow smoke and heavy sickening
smell of flesh and hair was blown over our barrack 24 hours a
day and as hungry as we were, we could not always eat.

I had terrible dysentery and innumerable
small sores on my legs and back but I continued to work as best
I could to prevent being put on the sick-list and transferred
to the "hospital" (Sanitatslager) where, believe it
or not, five sick people were assigned to each single bunk, rations
were half "normal" and infinitesimal amounts of medicine
were supplied. Very few ever returned alive from this "hospital"
and the daily death toll at this time from pure starvation was
400 to 500.

These were dumped in a huge mass grave
on the hill already containing 15,000.

My next job was carrying large soup kettles
(110 lbs. each) about 1/2 mile to the neighboring Hungarian Jew
Camp (Zeltlager) but still inside the outer cordon of guard posts
and barbed wire. Each kettle was carried by its side handles
by two men, and I received several bad beatings because I could
not support the weight on my injured left arm. We were beaten
severely and often with sticks by the SS and camp firemen while
staggering along under the weight.

When afforded an opportunity, we dipped
our ever-handy spoons under the lids and managed several mouthfuls
of extra soup in this manner. These Jews were not regular prisoners
as we; their only crime being that they were Jews. There were
between 15 and 18,000 who managed to walk 8 days without food
but after arriving none were strong enough to transport their
own soup. (See enclosed list, "Jews in the Tent Camp,"
over 3,000 by name.) All those who dropped out enroute were disposed
of immediately.

About the middle of April, I was transferred
to Block 10, which was occupied mainly by Czechs and Poles with
a few Russians, Germans and Austrians. We slept only two to a
single bed and my job was changed to gardening just inside the
electric fence. Most of the Block 10 prisoners were old-timers,
and consequently had good positions through which by devious
means they obtained extra food. Bread, margarine, potatoes and
occasionally horsemeat, cereal and schnapps were obtainable through
the black market. Czechs, Austrians and Hungarians were allowed
a few packages from home until March. The two French Lieutenants
(Maurice and Albert), Krajcovic and I had received bread and
margarine for our watches and ring at the rate of two loaves
of bread and 1/2 kilo margarine for each Swiss watch. Divided
four ways, this food lasted a week. In Block 10, I collected
and boiled potatoes peelings and scraps from the more fortunate
prisoners but our bread ration was reduced daily.

[At this point in his deposition, Lt.
Jack Taylor included information given to him by the other prisoners.]

I had, in the meantime, met many fine
men: Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Yugoslavs, Hungarians, Austrians,
French, Belgians, Dutch, Spaniards and even a few Germans. To
get some idea of the caliber of some of the men, the situations
may be likened to a hypothetical purge of the leading Republicans
in the U.S. by the Democrats. Not only were there leading members
of Congress, and the military but also of art, culture and science.
Many of these men said to me, "We're sorry you're here,
but, "IF you live, it will be a very fortunate thing; for
you can tell Americans and they will believe you, but if we try
to tell them, they will say it is propaganda." Every nationality
trusted me because I was an American where they couldn't trust
their own people entirely due to stool-pigeons. Consequently,
I was the recipient of hundreds of eyewitness atrocity accounts
with first hand evidence in many cases. It was too dangerous
to take notes, but I tried to keep mental account of the teller
and enough of the story to remind him later when and if the opportunity
came to set down the details and get them sworn to. I had seen
only a small percentage of the torture, but brutality and murder
that these men had seen and suffered, but on this basis I was
prepared to believe their stories 100%, in most cases. After
all, the acts were themselves so terrible that anything worse
could hardly be imagined.

The following examples taken from the
enclosed sworn statements are in addition to the normal methods
of execution, i.e., gassing, shooting, hanging, etc. Clubbing
to death with wooden or iron sticks, shovels, pick-axes, hammer,
etc; tearing to pieces by dogs trained especially for this purpose;
injection into the heart or veins of magnesium-chlorate, bezine,
etc.; exposure naked in sub-zero weather after a hot shower;
scalding-water shower followed by cow-tail whipping to break
blisters and tear flesh away; mashing in a concrete mixer; drowning;
beating men over a 150 foot cliff to the rocks below; beating
and driving men into the electric fence or guarded limits where
they are shot; forcing to drink a great quantity of water then
jumping on the stomach while the prisoner is lying on his back;
freezing half-naked in sub-zero, buried alive; eyes gouged out
with a stick, teeth knocked out and kicked in the genitals, red
hot poker down the throat, etc., etc., etc.

According to Dr. Podlaha, the head prisoner
doctor, prisoners were also executed for some unusual pathological
lesion or specimen such as deformities, tattoo, etc. A hunchback
and a dwarf, who had come to the notice of one of the SS doctors,
were executed and their skeletons cleaned and mounted for specimens.
Pathological lesions were collected as specimens, which involved
the death of the patient in most cases. Tattoo marks were practically
a death certificate as one of the SS doctors had a hobby of collecting,
tanning, and binding them in book form while his wife made lampshades
and book-covers from them.

Research was carried on in which healthy
prisoners were used as guinea pigs. These experiences mainly
concerned typhus and the minimum food requirements to sustain
life. The former used infected lice with a celluloid cover taped
over them to the patient's leg. The latter consisted of a strictly
controlled diet in which the results were measured in the number
of deaths.

Executions were carried out on orders
from one of three sources:

1. Berlin Tribunal, which was the only
official source.

2. Local Gestapo agency where the prisoner
was interrogated.

3. Lager Commandant. Ziereis in this
case was also the Chief of the Oberdonau (Upper Danube) Tribunal.

The normal methods of executions were
gassing, shooting and hanging which were all carried out in the
Death House. This block long structure had approximately 50 jail
cells on the first floor known as Bunker or Arrest in charge
of Hauptscharfuhrer Josef Niedermayer. Underneath was the gas
chamber, hanging beam, shooting "gallery" and crematorium
in charge of Hauptscharfuhrer Martin Roth. The gas chamber was
approximately 15 feet square and fitted as a shower room with
tile wainscoting and overhead shower nozzles. The victims were
told that they were going to take a shower; all were undressed
in the back courtyard and led into the chamber; the heavy air-tight
door was slammed and locked and the gas introduced through the
shower nozzles. Normal operation was twice daily at 9 AM and
5 PM, 120 victims at each time. Once 220 were packed in and the
SS fought each other to look through the small plate glass window
in the door and watch them struggle in their agony.

They were thrilled with this mass spectacle.
Frau Ziereis, the Commandant's wife, came once to see the sight.

The gas used was Cyclone B cyanide a
granular powder, contained in pint-sized cans and the same used
for infection of clothing. In a small room, adjacent to the gas
chamber, was a steel box connected immediately to a blower, which
was in turn connected to the shower system. While wearing a gas
mask, the operator bashed in the ends of two cans of powder (one
can will kill 100 people) with a hammer and after placing them
in the box, clamped the lid on hermetically tight and started
the blower. (In winter, when the gas would not evaporate fast
enough from the powder, steam was introduced into the box from
the other end.) After two hours, the intake blower was stopped
and the larger exhaust blower was turned on for about two hours.
Wearing gas masks, the prisoner operators removed the bodies
to the cold room (capacity 500) where they were stacked like
cord wood awaiting cremation. See enclosure: "Instructions
for the service of Pourric Acid Delousing Chambers in K.L.M,"
by the Chief doctor. It is worded for delousing but the instructions
were especially for gas chamber operators. The blowers and gas
receptacle were removed by the SS and attempts made to destroy
them. In March 1945, Ziereis and Bachmayer (see protocol) ordered
all ventilation sealed in the police wagon and a small trap door
installed. A group of 30 to 40 prisoners were told that they
were being transported to Gusen, a subsidiary camp about 8 km
away, were crammed into the wagon, the door locked and a bottle
of poison gas dropped through the trap door on an angle iron
specially placed to break the bottle. The "police wagon"
was immediately driven to Gusen and after parking for an hour
the prisoners were delivered to the crematorium. The same numbers
of Gusen prisoners were then loaded into the "police wagon"
for transport to Mauthausen with identical results. From March
to October 1945 the car circulated 47 times with an average of
35 victims each way on the round trip, making a total of approximately
3,300. In October, ventilation was installed again, and the police-wagon
resumed its original function.

Until 1943, daily executions by rifle
or tommy-gun were done openly back of Block 15 where those waiting
to be executed were forced to watch their comrades, three at
a time, being mowed down. When gas and injection deaths practically
replaced shooting, all shooting was done individually in another
small room adjacent to the gas chamber. The victim was told that
he was to have his picture taken and was led into their room
where a camera was set up on a tripod. He was told to face the
corner with his back to the camera and immediately he assumed
this position, [when] he was shot in the back of the neck with
a small carbine by a SS man standing to his left and slightly
behind. Prisoner operators stood behind a door looking through
a peephole as to know when to drag the body out. SS Standartenfuhrer
Siereis (Ziereis), Commandant of Mauthausen, personally executed
300 to 400 men here in the above-mentioned manner during 10 shooting
"expeditions" over a period of four months.

In the same room as above, where a stairway
led down from the street, an "I" beam was stretched
across about 10 feet high with ends embedded in the concrete
on either side. From this beam, nooses were suspended which accommodated
six strangling victims at a time. Before departing, the SS cut
out the beam but the embedded ends are clearly seen.

The crematoriums were large brick structures
containing a firebox for burning wood and coal and over this
were the ovens fitted with rounded supports at intervals for
the bodies. The bodies were carried into the ovens on steel stretchers
and with a quarter turn were rolled out. The new crematorium
with two ovens could handle twelve bodies at a time, 160 a day
and with the old ovens a total of 250 a day. Insufficient cremating
facilities held down the number of executions as all bodies showing
signs of violent death could not be buried. Gassed bodies were
often disfigured from clawing, biting, etc. and chemical analysis
of the tissues would show cyanide. All "violent-death"
bodies had this stamp on their paper: "Die leiche muss aus
hygienischen grunden gefert verbreannt werden." which says,
"The corpse must for hygienic reasons be cremated."

[Note: an exact imprint of this stamp
was with the manuscript, but too faded to scan.]

As mentioned, an electric fence surrounded
the camp charged with a maximum of 380 volts AC, 3-phase and
when any uninsulated object came in contact with one or more
wires, current flowed and was registered at a central control
panel by buzzer and red light. Complete constructional details,
blueprints and operational data are enclosed. Also see enclosed
protocols regarding prisoners being driven into the electric
fence.

"Official" deaths were listed
in Death Books giving cause of death, etc., from which death
certificates were issued to: (1) The SS Police Court where the
prisoner had been tried. (2) The political department at Mauthausen.
(3) The head SS doctor at Mauthausen. (4) A Berlin agency from
which reports were sent to next of kin and insurance agencies.
From 1939 to April 1942, the causes of death as entered in the
Death Book, from which the certificates were prepared, were all
absolutely false as they were assigned to a body from a prepared
list of 50 causes by a SS soldier, who was not even a medic.
Not until 1942, when a few prisoners were allowed to work, were
autopsies begun on a few. Enclosed are examples of original death
certificates bearing false causes of death and signed by the
SS doctors.

Tortures and brutalities as stated in
the enclosed protocols usually terminated in death but a few
remained alive to tell their stories. Enclosed are prison autobiographies
of Dr. Ludwig Soswinski, Vienna Communist; Dr. Hans Von Becker,
publicity minister for the Schussmig (Schuschnigg) regime; Karl
Dieth, lone survivor of the Wels-Linz Communists; Bernard Cechonski,
Polish patriot, Ernst Martin, gas works director, Innsbruck;
Josef Ulbrecht, bank director Prague; Georg Havelka, electrical
and television engineer Prague. The last three named did a spectacular
job of withholding valuable documents and obtaining evidence,
which will surely hang some of our murderers.

Religious faiths also suffered the same
atrocities as witness the report by three Jehovah's Witnesses
of the Watch-Tower Bible and Tract Society, wherein they were
pressed to renounce Jehovah. They were visited often by the SS
for sport saying, "Behold, I am Jehovah; I have come to
you; am I not Jehovah." They were then beaten and kicked
unmercifully. They were made to scramble upon tables, then under,
then sing, etc; all these indignities being in addition to their
regular punitive company (strafkompanie) stone breaking and very
heavy stone carrying. For months they were crowded into small
cubicles only 3 feet wide, 6 feet long and 6 feet high for two
men. Out of 150 Jehovah's Witnesses brought to Mauthausen from
Dachau in 1939, 19 have survived.

In some cases, the Gestapo and German
criminal police authorized the release of certain prisoners but
the Mauthausen Commandant (Ziereis) prevented most of the discharges
on the grounds that the prisoner was guilty of misconduct, poor
work, subversive political tendencies, etc., while in reality
he was retained for his indispensable position in the camp. See
enclosure: "Retention of prisoners officially released."

[The next section contains information
that Lt. Jack Taylor couldn't have known after only 35 days as
a prisoner and 25 days as a released prisoner. The following
information was probably supplied by the other prisoners.]

Mauthausen was established in 1939 as
a subsidiary extermination camp for Dachau. Not long after, it
outshone its parent in its grisly business to the extent that
it became a full-fledged Class III Concentration Camp, i.e.,
extermination camp. For sheer numbers alone, it does not rank
with Auschwitz (Obersilesia), where over 4 million Jews were
exterminated, but for all other nationalities it was the worst
for brutality, torture, sadism, and murder. The figures on Spanish
prisoners are typical of those of the western nations: out of
7184 arriving in 1940, 2000 remain alive today in Mauthausen
and its subsidiary Gusen. For Russians, Poles and Czechs, the
percentage is even worse.

Mauthausen and its 26 subsidiary work
camps, mostly war industries, had over 91,000 prisoners who were
administered and guarded by specially selected Deaths Head (Totenkopf)
SS totaling 45 officers headed by Strandartenfuhrer Franz Ziereis,
1069 NCOs and 5528 men. These subsidiary war industry slave camps
were spread out as far as Klagenfurt and located in the following
areas:

Eisenerz (300 prisoners transferred to
Peggau in December 1944). See enclosure for type of product produced
at each plant.

A list containing the names, ranks and
positions held of 354 Mauthausen SS personnel is enclosed including
approximately 100 Rogues Gallery pictures, 41 of which are identified.
See list of equivalent ranks of SS, Wehrmacht and U.S. Army.
Also included are the names and signatures of 13 Mauthausen women
"overseers" who were directly in charge of the women
inmates.

Enclosed is a report, "The Assignment
of Prisoners to Forced Labor," listing the various types
of work and the administration of this slave labor. The prisoner
received no pay until early 1944 when the maximum weekly sum
was 50 pfenning, the balance going to the Mauthausen management
for their own use. Other prisoners were assigned free of charge
to firms and private persons in order to gain special concessions
in food and supplies for the SS at Mauthausen. The Commandant
(Ziereis) formed his own company at Gusen (Deutsche Erd-und Steinwerke)
with prison labor to further increase his income. Profit exclusively
from prison labor slave amounted to between 5,000,000 and 6,000,000
R.M. per month.

As mentioned, new prisoners were stripped
and never saw their clothes again; being issued ragged underwear
instead. The best clothes went to the SS for black-market resale
or for their own and families' use, in which case prisoner tailors
did the refitting. See protocol stating that 5000 suits of clothes
of average value of 1500 Czech crowns (pre-war) were turned over
to the SS over a period of five years.

One of the remunerative of the rackets
was the extraction of all gold from the mouths of the dead. All
bodies were stamped "Examined by dental surgeon" before
cremation or burial. Large amounts of gold were thus accumulated
supposedly for the SS in Berlin but actually large quantities
were stolen and resold in the black-market by hospital and crematorium
SS personnel. See reports "The Removal of Dental Gold from
Deceased Prisoners," and "SS Dentists and dealings
with gold teeth." A list of degenerate SS dentists and doctors
from Mauthausen and some of their infamous acts are enclosed.
See also a protocol stating that a prisoner had his gold teeth
knocked out with a brick by a guard, only to get the gold.

About the middle of April, a request
was made to the prisoners for volunteers for the Waffen SS (Infantry).
It was limited to Germans (Austrians included) and about 1000
volunteered, as they understood that the other alternative was
execution (this was later disproved). Some also sought a chance
to escape in this way. About 300 were selected from those volunteers,
given regular SS rations, including cigarettes, outfitted in
old Africa Corps light khaki, drilled and trained for combat
and assigned to minor policing tasks inside the camp. It was
a very clear demonstration of the inherent German love for authority
and the ruthlessness with which they automatically operate. From
fellow prisoners, they overnight became our masters and did not
spare the rod.

Terribly optimistic rumors had been circulated
regarding the position of the Russians and we had expected to
be over-run by 20 April but, either the Russians turned north
from Vienna to Czechoslovakia or they were stopped by superior
German forces at the mouth of the Danube valley at St. Polten
about 60 km away. About this time the first contact with the
International Red Cross was made and all women from the western
nations including the American Miss Dien were evacuated to Switzerland.
These times became very dangerous as certain streets were walled
off with barbed wire and we feared a mass execution. At certain
unpredictable times, all prisoners were isolated in their blocks
and a general tenseness gripped the whole camp, SS included.
We heard rumors that the Commandant and other high ranking officers
were discussing our futures as a mass wherein we would all be
executed or transported to another area, or left in the lager
which would be defended using us for hostages.

Our daily "bread" was cut to
practically nothing and [prisoners] in prominent positions who
had not eaten "prisoner food" for two years were at
this time forced to. In the Sanitatteslager (hospital) the starving
were cannibalizing their own dead comrades, cutting out the heart,
liver and muscles. Jews in the tent camp (Zelt lager) were paying
a $20 gold piece for two loaves of bread and half kilo of margarine
and two wagonloads of dead were hauled away each day to the mass
grave on the hill. Gold, diamonds and jewelry were being accumulated
by the SS from the Jews and our bread was being used for this
purpose. One night a lone plane came over and dropped one bomb
(some said up to 3 bombs) in the adjacent Jew tent camp. We all
then expected a mass bombing of the whole lager but it never
materialized. In the morning, I saw the upper half of a body,
which had been blown from the Jew camp 200 yards and landed on
the eaves of one of the bar barracks. About 15 were killed and
47 injured most of whom probably eventually died.

About 25 April, the International Red
Cross returned and started the evacuation of Frenchmen, Dutch
and Belgians. Representatives of the Red Cross were not allowed
inside the guard limits and therefore saw nothing as SS drivers
drove the busses in and out of the lager. The Frenchmen departed
singing the Marsellaise and many were overcome with tears. Captain
John Star, one of two British prisoners, spoke French so fluently
that he was able, with some inside help, to pose as a Frenchman
and was apparently successfully evacuated with the others. About
this same time, the Jews in the Jew Camp were evacuated on foot
to the vicinity of Wels.

We heard that Churchill or some other
prominent British statesman, on viewing the conditions at Buchenwald
had made the statement that if similar conditions were found
in other lagers, the Germans would never forget it. Whether or
not, there immediately began the gassing of those of the sick
who might not die before the Allies arrived and would present
evidence of starvation, mistreatment, etc.

American bombers made their last raid
on Linz towards the end of April and we saw two bombers shot
down. Seven parachutes opened and the fliers unfortunately landed
within a few kilometers of Mauthausen. I saw SS Hauptsturmfuhrer
Bachmayer ride out on his horse in their general direction and
several hours later I heard that he had picked up two men, tied
their wrists together, and attached them to the back of a car
with a few feet of rope; the airmen then had to run behind the
car while Bachmayer galloped alongside and whipped them. I was
told that six American airmen were lined up inside the gate by
the laundry and that they were being mistreated by the SS. It
was extremely dangerous to be seen noticing such things particularly
for an American but, by visiting the prisoner-secretary's office
(Schreibstuber) on business and continuing on around the block,
I was able to see Bachmayer and an NCO slapping and hitting them
with a stick just as they had done to us in the same spot. Later
the airmen were placed in the jail and three days later when
I passed by whistling Yankee Doodle; two of them climbed up and
stuck their heads against the bars. It was too dangerous to talk
and I passed on quickly. Apparently, they were not executed and
it is thought that they were transferred to a POW camp near Linz
as others had been before.

I was so sick with dysentery and fever
that I could hardly walk to the dispensary for "cement"
and weighed at this time 58 kilos (114 lbs.), my normal weight
being 165 lbs. I was so weak that I could not stand at attention
at the Apelplatz for roll call for any length of time without
fainting. I was allowed to stay in bed by the Czech Blockeldester
(chief of the barrack) of Block 10 and only arose and marched
to the roll call. The Pole Kapo of the gardening detail was very
sympathetic.

In six years existence, no Red Cross
packages had ever been distributed but one day, SS troops were
noticed eating bars of chocolate and smoking American cigarettes.
Several empty cartons were picked up by prisoners and brought
to me. This was our first evidence that Red Cross parcels had
arrived and as we found later, all American Red Cross parcels
had been stolen by the SS for themselves and their families.
All French parcels had been opened and all cigarettes and all
but one bar of chocolate removed; these were then distributed
one to each Frenchman. I received a Hungarian package, which
contained Ovaltine, cheese, and sugar, but my system was so deteriorated
that I could not "keep down" this real food. My Czech
and Pole friends did everything they could to help me and with
the aid of some opium, I was able to get started again on the
cheese and later the Ovaltine and sugar.

American P-38's came over at about 100
feet and really gave us a thrill. Every M.G. [Machine Gun] in
the camp opened up on them but nothing happened fortunately.
We never dreamed that Americans would ever be near but we heard
rumors that they were in Regensburg and coming fast. The SS departed
about the first of May, were replaced with Vienna fire-police
on the 4th when we could hear the American guns. No more executions
or brutalities took place after the SS departed. On Saturday
5 May the guns were much louder but still some distance away,
and I had not hoped that they would arrive before Sunday. Late
in the afternoon, however, I heard rumors that an American jeep
and half-track were at the entrance, and staggering through the
frenzied crowd, I found Sgt. Albert Kosiek, Troop D, 41st Cav.
RCN, Sqd. Macz. 11th Amd Div, 3rd U.S. Army. I could only say
"God Bless America" and hold out my dog tags with a
quavering hand.

Sgt. Kosiek and the seven soldiers were
entirely unaware of the two large concentration camps (Mauthausen
and Gusen) in this area and were on routine reconnaissance for
roadblocks, bridges out, etc. They disarmed over 2000 Vienna
fire-police in Mauthausen and Gusen and sent them back towards
Gallenkirchen. Sgt. Biagioni, Lionel Romney, and I rode back
with Sgt. Kosiek past Gusen where the released prisoners were
murdering with fence-posts German prisoners, who had been brutal
Blockeldesters or Kapos. Sgt Kosiek had given me a can of C-Rations
at Mauthausen, but I decided to save it until it could be heated.
For four hours I resisted temptation but finally gave in and
ate it all cold. After a cold six-hour ride in the rain in low
gear because of the roads clogged with German prisoners, we arrived
at Gallenskirchen. Here I had real hot coffee but the C-Ration
was like a chunk of lead and I could eat nothing else. After
a sleepless night I could still eat nothing for breakfast except
coffee. It took practically 24 hours to digest the C-Ration and
after this I ate soup and crackers almost continuously.

In the morning, I met Colonel Yale, Lt.
Colonel R.R. Seibel, Lt. Colonel Keach and other heads of the
11th Amd. Div., and requested notification to my family and OSS.
They wanted to evacuate me immediately to Regensburg for hospitalization,
but I explained that much valuable testimony, documents, etc,
were available at Mauthausen, and I should return and collect
it. I hated to go back, and it was one of the hardest decisions
of my life to stick to, but it was an opportunity, which would
not long be available.

We returned to Mauthausen and found the
camp in charge of the Communist prisoners led by a Russian Major.
They were having trials and dealing out death sentences and already
about a dozen German Blockeldesters, Kapos, and others had been
murdered. The next day, Colonel Seibel took command, disarmed
the prisoners, and restored order. The Army doctors took over
the tremendous job of trying to save thousands of lives most
of which were too far-gone. After three weeks of good care and
nourishing food, prisoners were still dying at the rate of over
50 a day.

I worked for three weeks collecting testimony,
documents, liaison to Colonel Seibel and running down SS men
hiding in the area. In the first two weeks I gained over 30 pounds.

One of the most important documents was
a collection of 15 Death books (Totenbuch) giving names of "official"
deaths for 6 years. These books are labeled "Mauthausen,"
"Gusen" and "Executions," and were withheld
at the risk of their lives by Ulbrecht and Martin, the prisoner
secretaries assigned to this registration. These approximately
3,600 pages have been microfilmed and the books are in the custody
of OSS, SALZBURG. Ulbrecht and Martin by means of tiny secret
hieroglyphics were able to put down in many cases the true cause
of death (gas, injection, etc.) at the same time as the official
(false) death cause, i.e., in the "40 "42 book, all
those from number 229 on with "spr" means "injection
death" (injection of foreign material into the heart) and
those with "COIC" means violent exercise to death.
In the "42-43 book, all numbers after 3725 with a dot after
the place of birth were by injection. Other small notes in relation
to the "official" death cause can be deciphered by
Martin and Ulbrecht. After 18 April 1945, all prisoners who have
in the 4th column the remark "Zellenbau" (prison bldg.)
were gassed. On April 26 April 1945, 1157 prisoners died at Mauthausen
through starvation, gas, shooting, and clubbing. Martin and Ulbrecht's
addresses are as follows: [Both addresses expunged by BLAST Staff.]

After the Americans had liberated us,
I discovered that I should have been executed on 28 April 1945,
along with 27 other prisoners from Block 13. A friendly Czech,
Mylos, who worked in the political department had, unknown to
me, removed my paper and destroyed it so that I was not included
with the 27. A statement explaining this is enclosed.

J.H. TAYLOR
Lt., USNR
178727
USA - Polizeiheftling (Police Prisoner)

[The following was added by Dr. Milos
who wrote and witnessed the deposition.]

At the order of Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolizei
und des Hicherheitsdiestes in Wien from 30.4.1945 - FS 2005 taken
to Concentration Camp Mauthausen as police-prisoner and under
the same number was proposed his execution (Antrag zu Sonderbehandlung)
to the Reichsicherheitshauptamt at Berlin.

Execution ordered by Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolizei
und des Hicherheitsdiestes in Wien based on martial law for 27
police-prisoners, many of the transport from 1.4.1945 took place
on 28.4.1945 at Mauthausen afternoon. The execution of the Captain
Taylor has not been carried out, because 3 days before I burnt
his documents.

I declare upon my word of honour that
this my testimony is based on truth.

Written and witnessed by
Doctor Stransky Milos, Czechoslovak Citizen,
Former Prisoner Employed at Polivisohe
Abteilung of Concentration Camp Mauthausen